NOT so very far back into the past, the prospect of a Welsh squad without any of the ‘Three Amigos’ in it – James Collins, Danny Gabbidon and Rob Earnshaw – would have been dismissed out of hand.

In May 2012, it is Wales reality.

As Chris Coleman’s team left for the United States yesterday to prepare for the friendly international with Mexico on Sunday, none of the former Cardiff City team-mates were on the plane heading west.

The new Welsh boss, taking charge of his first match, is saying the right things in public.

He knows a lot about Collins, Gabbs and Earnie and doesn’t need them for this game, explains Coleman.

Their experience remains important moving forward into the looming World Cup qualifying campaign.

Possibly, but only if there is a string of injuries. Other than that I’m struggling to see much of a pathway back for any of the trio.

Yes, I include Collins in that, even though at just 28 years of age he still has many years ahead of him as a top defender.

The truth is Coleman also knows plenty about Craig Bellamy, Ashley Williams, Aaron Ramsey and Andrew Crofts, but they all figure in his squad.

Why? Because each of them – well, the first three at least – remain fundamental to his planning for a proper crack at reaching Brazil 2014.

Collins, Gabbidon and Earnshaw, it seems to me, do not. If they did, make no mistake, each and every one of them would have been on that aeroplane to New York yesterday.

Coleman only has two matches, Mexico and then Bosnia in August, in which to bed down his team personnel, planning and tactics for the World Cup opener with Belgium in September.

Clearly Gareth Bale, missing through injury, will figure in that match. So too, perhaps, may two other injury victims, Darcy Blake and Joe Ledley.

Other than that, Coleman will be looking to put into place as close as possible the line-up, substitutes included, he wants for the World Cup.

Of course, it is entirely possible Wales could bomb against Mexico, crash at home to Bosnia and Coleman performs a huge U-turn by the time Belgium come to town.

However, the way things look, it’s hard to envisage either of Earnshaw or Gabbidon, and probably Collins too, featuring come the start of the World Cup.

A sign of the strides made, I guess, of the youth revolution brought in by John Toshack and which was evolved further by Gary Speed.

Between them, Collins, Gabbidon and Earnshaw boast 141 caps, but the writing could well be on the wall for the three of them at international level.

In his pomp, between 2002 and 2005, Gabbidon was the best Wales defender I have seen since Everton’s double League title-winning captain Kevin Ratcliffe was wearing the red shirt during the 1980s.

For Cardiff City, and then for a year with West Ham, he was immense. Just as majestic in the red of Wales where his pace, anticipation and determination made him nigh on impassable. Even the world’s best couldn’t beat Dan the Man.

Gabbidon was then cruelly blighted by injuries and today finds himself without a club, having been released by his old Welsh boss Mark Hughes at Queens Park Rangers.

Earnshaw’s commitment to Wales, where he has often been little more than a bit-part figure, has always been exemplary.

Like Gabbidon, perhaps in hindsight his best days were also the early years and he spent most of the season just gone as an occasional substitute under Malky Mackay with the Bluebirds.

The more extraordinary omission is that of Collins who, remember, has been a regular Premier League centre-half.

Until Ashley Williams achieved that with Swansea City in the 2011-12 campaign, there aren’t too many Welsh players we could say that about.

Yet, and I know I’ve said this before, Collins was far too error-prone in the red of Wales.

In my view, he has been at fault with too many goals – including the Montenegro winner which put us on the back foot right at the beginning of the last Euro 2012 qualifying campaign – and it got to the point where more solidity was needed in the pivotal centre-back positions.

Speed made the hugely bold decision to ditch Collins and pick young Blake in his place.

Thus, we had a Cardiff reserve chosen ahead of an Aston Villa Premier League first-teamer, yet Wales looked a much better team as a result.

Blake and Williams dovetailed far more effectively as a pairing than Collins and Williams. From losing the first five matches under Speed, Wales suddenly won four of the next five and the one defeat, to England at Wembley, was unfortunate.

The new partnership of Williams and Blake became the rock upon which that new-found success was built as they brought pace, sleight of foot and, more importantly, error-free performances to the centre of the Welsh defence.

For a number of years, Collins and Gabbidon were the kingpins of the back four – or back five as it was under Toshack – but Coleman has gone on record as saying Williams is his main man today.

If Collins really is to be a big player under Coleman, there is no doubt in my view he would have made it to New York.

The fact that he has been overlooked tells something of a story, particularly when you look at those who have been selected ahead of him.

Joel Lynch, who at 24 has been playing Championship football for Nottingham Forest, is chosen out of the blue for the first time.

Adam Henley, of Blackburn, also gets the nod. He is ostensibly a left-back, but is also viewed as a possible centre-back.

There are also five full-backs in the squad, at least two of whom, Chris Gunter and Sam Ricketts, could play centre-back next to Williams.

Coleman will be taking a close look at his options in training over the next few days and whatever he sees there will clearly form part of his World Cup planning.

When Collins and Gabbidon have been at their best for Wales, and games against Germany away and the Czech Republic at the Millennium Stadium stand out in particular, we have been a better team as a result. But we’re talking there about 2008. Time stands still for no man.

When that Wales plane headed westbound yesterday, it may have signalled the end of an era for the ‘Three Amigos.’